


Persona 5: Clockwork

by The_Architect48



Series: Clockwork [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, My First AO3 Post, Persona 5 Spoilers, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26588791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Architect48/pseuds/The_Architect48
Summary: After Artemis defends a woman from being abused by a drunken man on the street, she is falsely charged with assault and put on probation, resulting in expulsion from her school. She is then sent to Tokyo to stay with family friend Sojiro Sakura and attend Shujin Academy during her year-long probation. Soon after her arrival, she is drawn into the mysterious Velvet Room.
Series: Clockwork [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934146
Kudos: 1





	Persona 5: Clockwork

The world is not as it should be.  
It's filled with distortion and "ruin" will soon descend  
However...there are those who would change fate, in desire for change.  
Since time immemorial...they were known as,  
"Tricksters."

* * *

**Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.**  
**April, 9th 20XX**

She did not know how long she had been asleep for but the sudden jostle of the train startle 17-year-old Artemis Rose awake. As her eyes adjusted to her environment she began to remember that she was on a train headed to Shibuya. Slowly she removed her glasses so she could rub away the sleep from her eyes. "Isn't Akechi awesome?" said an unknown voice grabbing Artemis' attention. Looking over she found two girls in high school uniforms putting all of their attention on a cell phone being held by both of them. On the screen was a young man with shaggy, neck length brown hair bangs, and reddish-brown eyes. It looked like he was being interviewed in the video. "A famous detective, and still in high school! It's like he's living in a whole different world from us!" The other girl said to her friend. Not seeming too interested in the video Artemis turned her gaze away and continued to look out the train's windows, looking out at the city she would soon be calling home for the year. "Now arriving in Shibuya." A voice said coming in through the train's loudspeakers. Hearing this Artemis quickly grabbed her bags and made her way to the doors leading out of the train. As it came to a stop the doors slowly opened, Artemis moved out with the flood of people and eventually emerged out of Shibuya station, entering the station square. She was quickly amazed, as no matter where she looked, there were several people, packed into a tight crowd or another transversing the street or walking down the sidewalk or simply hanging out at certain spots. 'It's so cluttered.' She thought to herself, having no choice but to enter the hazardous pack of migrating individuals. As soon as she entered the middle of the street she stopped in place when a sudden beep came from her phone. Hoping it was her parents texting her she quickly pulled it out of her hoodie pocket. Unlocking it she found an unusual app on her screen. It was red, bearing a black insignia resembling an eye with a star inside. Before Artemis could do anything about the app it suddenly expanded, covering up almost half of the screen. As curiosity got the better of her she tapped the now blown-up icon on her screen, though nothing happened. Sighing, she looked up and became aware of the change of the world around her. The whole area was covered in blood-red and everything had stopped in place as if time had just stopped. Off in the distance, Artemis noticed something odd. There, buring within a crowd was a brilliant, light blue flame. The flames continued to rise higher and higher until it slowly formed into a vaguely human-like shape and what looked like wings sprouting out of the figure's back. Then, crimson flames burned out of the blue inferno, forming into what appeared to be a face; a wicked grin and slit-like eyes. The grin then split apart and a demoniac laugh escaped from the figure's mouth, causing a small grin to appear on Artemis' face. Just as quickly as it came whatever happened to the world disappeared, returning everything to normal. Everyone was moving again and the figure had disappeared. Looking back at her phone she found that the app had reverted to its normal size. She quickly put her phone back into her pocket and made her way to the Yongen-Jaya station.

Walking down the alleyway she quickly found Cafe Leblanc, the place she would be staying during her probation. Entering she found an older man sitting at the counter looking intently at a newspaper and an elderly couple sitting in one of the booths listening to the news report on the tv. "A public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it! The citizens can't live in peace if this keeps up." A man said as he reported the recent mental shutdown. "How frightening." The elderly man said as the report ended. "What could be going on? Didn't something similar happen just the other day?" The elderly woman asked the elderly man. Artemis could only presume that was her husband. The older man didn't seem to pay much attention to the report as he was too busy with his crossword puzzle. "Vertical is..... the name of a shellfish used for farming pearls....." The older man said to himself hoping to think of the answer. "Try mussel," Artemis suggested causing everyone's attention to be focused on her. "....oh right. They did say that was today." The older man remembered as he placed his newspaper onto the counter behind him. "We'll be going now. The payment's on the table." The elderly man announced as he and his wife got up from the booth and left the cafe. "Thanks for coming." The older man proclaimed as they exited through the door. "...four hours for just a single cup of joe..... So you're Artemis?" He questioned as he walked towards her. "Yes, that's correct. I am Artemis Oswin Rose." Before continuing she gave a small bow. "I would like to thank you Sojiro Sakura, for taking me in during my probation and I apologize if I have caused you any burden." She exclaimed before standing up straight and seeing the confused/surprised reaction on Sojiro's face. "They told me to be expecting an unruly troublemaker, but what I've seen so far that's quite the opposite." Sojiro pointed out as he rubbed his chin genuinely confused at the young woman. Unsure of what to say next he lead her to where she would be staying. At the back of the cafe was a set of stairs leading upstairs, supposedly to an attic area.

Finally, at the top of the stairs, they came to a medium-sized room filled with various things ranging from books to boxes to bags of coffee beans. Obviously, this room was originally used as a storage room. "This is your room. I'll at least give you sheets for your bed." Sojiro said as he turned to her. "You look like you want to say something?" He questioned as he saw the look on her face as she surveyed the room. "It's big. Bigger than I expected......and extremely cluttered" She said as she placed a hand on her chin, as she thought on how much work it was going to be to clean this by herself. Part of her was hoping Sojiro would offer to help. "It's up to you to clean up the rest. I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble." He said explaining how things will work around here, she guessed asking for help would be out of the question. She's on probation, so it makes sense that she wouldn't be trusted with more freedom. So she nodded in agreement as Sojiro continued. "Now then... I got the gist of your situation. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you. Right? That's what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah?" Despite asking a question Sojiro had no intention of giving her time to answer as he continued on. "...And now that you've got a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school. The courts ordered you to transfer and move out here, which your parents approved. In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass. The only reason I took you in is that your father is a frequent customer of mine when he's in the city. I owe him that much at least." Which wasn't even slightly true. Her parents involuntary approved after they threatened to get him fired from his job. They only reason they ended up approving was because Artemis told them to. She wasn't going to mess up her father's job over something like this. But she can't blame Sojiro he was probably told this by someone who didn't have all the facts or just didn't care. "It's best you do not talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens your probation will be lifted. Cause any problems, and you'll be sent straight to juvie." As he finished he began to walk back towards the stairs but stopped himself when he remembered one last thing. "We'll be going to Shujin tomorrow, the school you'll be attending. We introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There's rarely a place that'll accept someone like you, you know. Also, your "luggage" arrived earlier; I left them over there." He explained pointing over at a large box in the middle of the room. He then continued on his way back downstairs. Despite being halfway down the stairs Artemis could hear him mumble to himself. "What a waste of my Sunday." Which caused the young girl to chuckle. 'Alright, I'll be living here starting today... I should check what's in here.' Artemis thought to herself as she got down onto one knee to look through her "luggage". Digging through the box she found clothes and other necessities, but couldn't find her laptop or any other important item. "I guess I'm not allowed to have my laptop during my probation. Darn!" She exclaimed while getting back onto her feet. 'Well since I have nothing better to do, I guess I'll get started on this room.' 

So for the next few hours, Artemis worked tirelessly cleaning the attic. Dusting, mopping the floor, putting her "luggage" and bags away, and making the bed were just some of the many things she did to make the attic into an actual room to live in rather than a storage space. As she finally finished she looked out the window to see that the sun had gone down, she had been cleaning longer than she thought. Her attention was then drawn to the stairs as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Turning around she found Sojiro standing at the top of the stairs. "What the heck? I heard you making all sorts of noise up here but I didn't think you were cleaning." He then surveyed the room that just a few hours ago was a storage room. "I will admit though, the place doesn't look too bad. Though it's only natural you would want to keep your room tidy. Why don't you go to bed for tonight? I mean it's not like you have anything better to be doing, right?" Before getting an answer he turned to head back downstairs. "I'm going to close up shop and get out of here myself. I won't be the one looking after you if you get sick from staying up too late, you got that?"Artemis just simply nodded and he continued downstairs. Sine Sojiro was right that she had nothing better to do she decided to go to bed, plus all that hard work tired her out. So she quickly got undressed and put on her pajamas before climbing into bed. After covering herself with the sheets and blankets she heard her phone ding. Picking it up she found a text from her mother.

**MotherShip:**  
**Did you get to Leblanc's ok? You were supposed to text when you got there.**

**Artie:**  
**Sorry Mom, I have been so busy unpacking and cleaning up I forgot to text.**

**MotherShip:**  
**So how is it? Is Sojiro treating you alright?**

**Artie:**  
**The city is absolutely beautiful. I honestly couldn't think of a better place to be on probation. And Sojiro is fine. He's a little cold but I can understand why he acts like that since I am an "Unruly criminal". We are supposed to head to Shujin tomorrow to meet the teachers. Also, I hope they give me a uniform and books because I still don't have those.**

**MotherShip:**  
**Well, I am glad you are enjoying yourself. I hope things go well for you tomorrow. Just be sure to be polite and courteous to your teachers and ignore them if they bring up what happened. Also text when you get back to Leblanc's, just so I won't worry about it.**

**Artie:**  
**Alright, I'll try not to forget this time. Anyway, I need to get to bed. Goodnight Mom, I love you!**

**MotherShip:**  
**Love you too honey! Have a good night's sleep! I and your father are here for you if you need anything!**

And with that done she closed the messaging app with a smile on her face knowing that her parents are still on her side through this fills her heart with hope. As she went to lock her phone she noticed that the strange app from earlier was still on her screen. Before she could do anything though, her eyelids became extremely heavy and she quickly passed out. 

The sounds of rattling chains quickly caused her to wake. When Artemis opened her eyes, she saw blue, brilliant vibrant, aquamarine blue. The ceiling was unfamiliar, as were the walls. They were padded, yet looked quite comfortable, marked by a few golden tailings. However, the scenery around her was wrong. She was no longer in the attic of Leblanc. The bed she was laying on felt uncomfortable. It felt like she was laying on a slab of wood rather than the somewhat comfy bed she went to sleep in. What was even stranger were the shackles hanging from the ceiling, dangling from black chains. As Artemis began to sit up on the "bed" she looked down to find that she was no longer in her pajamas, she was now wearing a black and white prisoner uniform. She also found shackles around her wrists connected together with a single black chain. Suddenly she heard a chuckle that caused her eyes to widen as she whipped her head around in the direction it came from. Her confusion continued to grow when she found a series of bars, reminiscent to a cell door...... it was a cell door. On the other side of the cell door were two young girls who were each about the size of a small child. The two of them had platinum blond hair and golden eyes but each had only one eye; the one on the left wore an eye patch over her left eye while the girl on the right wore her's over her right eye. Both eyepatches had a stylized golden V on them. In terms of hairstyle, they were very different; the left girl had a braid while the girl on the right had two hair buns. As for their attire, they were wearing strange blue prison guard uniforms which included blue tops, black shorts, and black and blue hats. One other thing Artemis noted was that one girl was carrying a clipboard while the other carried a baton. Despite their differing hairstyles, the two looked pretty much identical. They could even perhaps be twins. Both girls were staring at Artemis, the left girl with a straight lipped face while the other was wearing a small cocky smirk. Artemis had honestly no idea what to say but tried to approach the cell door... with much difficulty. Artemis' attention was grabbed by the metal ball attached to her leg which made moving a little bit more challenging but luckily she was able to shuffle her way to the bars of the cell. "....um. Excuse me? Where am I? Who are y-" Unfortunately her questions went unanswered by the twin girls performing an unsettling synchronized 90 degree turn revealing more of the room to her. Beyond the bars, she could see that her cell was one of many in a circular cell block. While the room itself was most bizarre it paled in comparison to what sat in the center of the circular room. On top of a blue and gold rug, the rug sharing the same gold V as the twins' eyepatches, there was a wooden desk that held objects such as a lamp, a quill, a desk microphone, and a stack of papers. However, it was who was sitting behind the desk that had Artemis' attention. It was an old man. A...... very peculiar old man. He wore a fine black suit, which fit well on his slim form, while his hands, hidden by white gloves, were folded and sitting underneath his chin. He was bizarre, in that his back was hunched forward, and his nose was abnormally long. A wide toothy smile was plaster across his face, so wide that it would have threatened to break his face in half. He was also bald, with what little hair remaining on his dome being finely combed and swept back behind his ears. This man was without a doubt the strangest thing in this strange room. Soon the man gave a small chuckle before gesturing with his hand and began to talk.

"Trickster...... Welcome to my Velvet Room."

**Author's Note:**

> For those wondering who Artemis Rose is, she is an original character that I created to serve as the main character in a lot of my works that are involved with the Dualityverse. In most stories, she will have the same name but in other stories, it may be different. I'll be sure to add notes on them as well so that you are up to speed.
> 
> In this case, Artemis is originally from America moving to Japan with her parents after her father gets a job offer there.
> 
> Also, this is not my first time writing something, I have actually written quite a few stories, but this will be the first one I have ever published in a long time. So I'm quite nervous about this. Feel free to leave any comments you have about the story. I would absolutely love to hear your feedback.
> 
> To keep me from getting writer's block I'll be working on this story and two others. So be sure to keep a look out for A Tangled Web and RWBY: SLVR.
> 
> EDIT:  
> So for those wondering why the ending is different from what was originally there is because when I was writing this the idea for that ending came to me and I just went with it. The problem with that though is I had no idea what to do with the story next and that's why there hasn't been a second chapter yet. Between that and writer's block, it hasn't been a good time. So I decided to go back to my original idea for the story and hopefully I'll have the second chapter out soon.


End file.
